Even Xavier Becerra's fellow Democrats think he's a running joke for California governor -Politico

 by Monica Showalter

It's one thing for your political opponents to think you're a twerpy tool, an incompetent excuse for an executive, and a dingbat candidate.

But when your fellow Democrats do, all it can be is truth observed.

That's what California Democrat gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier Becerra is looking at, according to a damning report from Politico:

“It’s like: ‘We need to figure out a candidate who can win!’ But then…him? Really?’” said one former Biden administration official. “It’s amazing.”

In the last several weeks, as former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s flameout catapulted Becerra to the front of a crowded June primary, Biden White House alumni have been marveling at his stroke of luck — and the growing possibility that a Cabinet official who was widely derided and deemed to have been in over his head could soon be the governor of the country’s largest state

Six former Biden administration officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly about a former colleague, acknowledged the subject of Becerra’s unlikely rise has come to dominate their group chats and conversations. “It gets the biggest laugh every time we send around a poll,” the first former official said, describing the perception across the administration that the former HHS secretary was ineffective on the Covid response, a migrant health crisis at the border and other matters.

Well, then, maybe this guy isn't the best person for the job, is he? Democrats don't think so -- note the detail about their Journ-O-List type group chats, a high school-like relic from the aughts which they're still using to bite and snap at one another like Mean Girls and Becerra is their running joke.

The problem, though, is that it's all true. He really is a twerp and incompetent. He 'lost' at least 64,000 unaccompanied migrant children from Joe Biden's border surge as Health and Human Services secretary, and the number is only that low because the Trump administration put some effort into finding most of them.

During COVID, his failure skills were on display, too. Becerra was absent from his job most of the time, and the tens of thousands of government bureaucrats he supervised followed suit, running a department full of 90% empty buildings, with his department the worst one of them all. I wrote about that here.

A third problem, mentioned in the gubernatorial debate the other night, was his bad record of allowing billions in fraud and corruption to go on with the health service bureaucracies. A recent scandal had his chief of staff caught stealing money from Becerra's campaign kitty and he said he knew nothing, which at a minimum, speaks ill to his management skills. This sounds like Walz territory, if not something worse.

It's been known and sometimes come out in public since at least 2022, as this Fox News report indicates:

The administration was so rattled by the outpouring of concern that it launched a public campaign to reassure Becerra — and key Latino supporters — after The Washington Post reported last week that White House frustration with Becerra had grown so deep that aides have openly discussed replacing him. 

 

And over in flakeville, Gavin Newsom has told aides he believes Becerra is an idiot too.

 

He, uh, has declined to endorse him for public office:

 

Newsom declining to endorse Becerra, the former AG of the state.
Say everything without saying a word. I thought he night be saving his endorsement for a final two-week push.
⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/ztH7hx6uwt

— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) May 8, 2026

According to the New York Post:

Gov Gavin Newsom conspicuously sidestepped a question about his former colleague Xavier Becerra— a longtime California Democrat who’s now the frontrunner to succeed him. Newsom was tight-lipped when asked about the gubernatorial favorite, who’s rapidly racked up endorsements and support in recent weeks — including from Newsom allies — despite reservations about his record in former President Joe Biden’s administration. “I’m focused on diapers,” Newsom said in response to the The Post’s question about Becerra, a longtime Democrat who was California attorney general for the first two years of Newsom’s term.

So now the Democrats are grossing out as to his governing skills, while some are actually feeding dirt about him to Becerra's Democrat rivals for the office. 

Sound like a resounding endorsement of his self-vaunted executive skills, as well as his army of illegals serving as his campaign foot soldiers? It sounds like incompetence cubed. Because when your own party thinks you're an idiot, and your rivals think you're an idiot, you can only be an idiot. That should lay the groundwork for more sniping and negative stories leaked out by those who knew him best as the race continues on. By the end of this, Becerra will be seen as the new Kamala Harris, parachuted in after frontrunner Eric Swalwell flamed out in the continuous Democrat pattern of picking nominees. This can only benefit the Republicans in the race as the election goes on, and give Republican voters ample cause for getting out the popcorn. Bring it on.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/even_xavier_becerra_s_fellow_democrats_think_he_s_a_running_joke_for_california_governor_politico.html